Brown Dog with Black Ears
by Smart Angel
Summary: Every kid has that special friend. The one he carries around every where he goes and that he can't sleep without it. In his case his special friend was a brown dog with black ears. - One Short, not really angst, but kind of sad in the middle or so I hope


**Hum… Shaman King doesn't belong to me… Yet. I'm still working on getting the rights from Takei. If it was mine… starts to dream about YohXAnna scenes**

**Now with the fic: (Oh yeah! English is my second language… So please, be nice with me and my Spelling Errors.)**

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They were both standing in front of the Enn Inn at this moment. It didn't seem real. After so many years they were finally back. The stars on the dark night sky were shining brightly for this special occasion.

After releasing a deep breath that even she didn't know she was holding she looked down to her hands. They were holding a little stuffed animal, very dirty and old. She licked her upper lip and then bit her lower one. She was so nervous. After so many years they were back.

By her side he was looking at her with a sweet smile. He knew what she was going through. Heck, he was going through the same thing. He was just as nervous. But it was a good kind of a nervous. He had been looking forward to this days for six long years. Now he was ready. Ready to make his dream come true.

_A young couple walked silently in a busy Japanese city. Which city it was? They didn't know. The date? They didn't know that either. All they knew was that they were tired, hungry, lost and injured. _

_It was only a game for him. Just some silly distraction. He would hurt them badly; to the point that just one more attack, even a small one, would be fatal. But he would never kill them. No. He would leave them there, soaked in blood, broken bones, almost all hopes lost; but alive. He would leave them alive so there could be another battle soon. So they could get to their feet, search for him once again and have another battle. The results wouldn't change. He would win and they would lose. He knew that and they knew that. They would never give up, no matter how many times they lost. Because there was one thing giving them hope that someday they could win. One thing that could make them smile. Just one thing. Not much of a thing, but a person. And that person was their little son. _

_Yes, their son. The little blonde boy they hardly knew. The only reason why they kept trying and trying was because of their son. They wanted to go back home to see their son, to hold him, to see him grow up and to raise him. They wanted to be a part of their son's life. And the only way they could do that was if they defeated him._

_Of course, they had thought about just giving up and going back home. They did, really. They were even going to do it. But then he appeared in front of them and told them not to. He told them that if they even tried their son would be dead, reduced to ashes, when they got back home._

_That simple threat let to one of the most violent battles they ever had. They lost their cool easily when it came to someone trying to hurt their son in any way. Or even a threat. And that's what he does sometimes when they are to tired to keep going. He simply says the kid's name and things get interesting again._

_To them it was a war. A series of many battles that were keeping them from having a nice, easy life with their son. But to Asakura Hao, everything was just a game._

_Their last battle hadn't been so long ago. About a month, they guessed. After so long travelling and fighting they had completely lost sense of time. In this last one they seriously thought they were never going to see the sun rise or set ever again. They had never been so close to death. They couldn't move. Maybe they even passed out for a couple of moments, they didn't remember. They had to wait until the one who was injured the least to get used to the pain, move and start taking care of the two of them. It was scary. The thought they could die at any second, without ever seen their son again was scary. And now they were determinate to win the next battle and go back home. But first they needed to find Hao._

"_Yoh…" she broke the silence when they finally found a place to sit and rest "Where are we?"_

"_I don't know." He answered. The only reason why he was so sure he was in Japan was because Japan was surrounded by the waters of the ocean, and they still haven't crossed any seas. He looked around to trying to figure out where the hell they were. Any signs, T-shirts for tourist or stores. Anything that had the name of the city. He looked down disappointed and saw a dirty piece of paper with something written on it. "Look." He picked up and showed to his wife "Come to see the Kyoto spring festival Saturday, April 16, 2004." He read, not even noticing the date "We are in Kyoto."_

"_Kyoto… And what day is today? Is the festival over? Did it even started?" she asked a little angry. Anna always hated not knowing where she was or the date. Now that she finally found a way to keep track of time she wouldn't let it go so easily._

"_I'll go ask." Yoh got up and started to try to ask someone the date; but no one would stop for him. No one wanted to stop for him. His clothes were dirty and his hair was a mess. He looked like someone who couldn't take care of himself._

_After a few minutes trying someone finally stopped for him. An old man wearing a dark suit, a black hat, white gloves and had a pocket watched. He wore glasses and had a big white mustache that covered his upper lip._

"_Today is April 17, 2004." He answered._

"_Than—" he stopped and his eyes grew bigger "2004?!" he yelled surprised "Are you sure?"_

"_Positive." The man answered, not losing his posture._

"_W-Well… T-Thank you sir." Yoh bowed to the man as a way to thank him, the man bowed only his head in response and continued waling._

_Yoh went back to Anna and sited down, not looking at the blonde itako. His mind was racing. He still couldn't believe what he just heard. 2004… That meant that had been 3 years since…_

"_So… What day is today?" Anna asked casually. When no answer came from her husband she tried asking again. And again no answer came from the young man. She started to get concern. Sure, Yoh was Yoh and sometime he would start daydreaming of get lost in his thoughts, but he would always snap back to reality when she called. _

_She started to shake him and call his name "Yoh! Yoh! Answer me! Yoh! Are you okay? YOH!"_

_He still didn't answer. So Anna got up and postioned herself right in front of him. She then did something only Anna could do. She slapped him in the face so hard that he fell from where he was sitting to the dirty ground. People at the street stopped and turned to look when they heard the sound of her delicate but strong left hand meeting his right cheek and knocking him down._

_Yoh seemed to have waken up, and with Anna's help, he got up to his feet._

"_Yoh, are you okay? What happened?" she asked, still concerned. _

"_No." he answered sincerely. Then he looked at her sadly "I found out the date."_

"_So?" she asked, almost laughing in relief._

"_Anna… Today is April 16, 2004." He answered, saying the year very slowly._

_Anna's reaction was almost the same as his. If it wasn't for Yoh she would have fallen and her back would have meet the same ground Yoh's body had meet a few moments ago. She couldn't believe, she didn't want to believe! 2004! How could that have happened? It's been 3 years since it all started? 3 years already?! 3 years since they left him…?_

"_2004?" she put one hand above her eyebrows, massaging her forehead slowly. Then she shook her head and looked down sadly. "That's impossible That would make me 18 years old in a few months and you 19 years old in just a few weeks. And that would make…"_

"_And that would make Hana-chan 3 years old soon." Completed Yoh._

"_We missed 3 years of his life. new are the worst parents that had ever existed." She then turned around and saw her reflection on a store. It was the first time she noticed how much she had changed. He blonde hair was now longer, stopping at the middle of her back, instead of the neck like before. He body had completely changed. Now her body was of a woman. She was also taller, but her skin was still pale. Her face had changed too. And Yoh… She never noticed before, but now she could see that Yoh wasn't that cute 16 year old boy anymore. He had changed to a handsome young man. He still had that cute, childish, innocent look, but it looked somehow different. His hair had grown due to the fact that they never had a chance to cute it during those three years of battle. He was taller too. He still had his Yoh-ish way. It would probably take their friends a minute or two to figure out who they were._

"_Do you think Hana-chan changed as much as we did?"_

"_Yes." He answered, but that wasn't what she wanted to hear "He is taller, can walk and talk. He has more hair and…" his voice stayed in the air when he saw a couple walking across the street holding the hands of a little girl._

_A typical family moment. The parents holding the girl's hand while crossing the busy street and the girl smiling and talking. One typical family moment that Yoh and Anna never had the chance to share with their son. It always made them sad when they saw a family together. It made them jealous. They never held their son's hand, never talked to him, never helped him cross the street, bought them candy, received hugs from the boy or heard him say I love you._

_And if it was that hard on them they could only imagine how hard it must be to little Hana. He is just a little boy. They can only imagine how it feels to be at the playground and see kids playing with their parents, while he doesn't even know his. Imagining their son feeling like he is different just because his parents are away. To imagine the little blonde kid waking up at night because of a nightmare and cry, and the person who comes to comfort him is not his mommy or his daddy. _

"_That's pathetic." Anna said, sitting down once again, trying to hold back some tears. "I'm pathetic. What kind of a mother does that to her son? What kind of mother leaves her son promising to be back soon and stays away for three whole years?"_

"_I know how you feel." Yoh sits back and looks at his wife. When she looked at him he smiled sadly "But right now we can't let this stop us from accomplishing our mission." Suddenly he had a dark expression on his face "We both know that if we back down now Hao will kill Hana-chan." Then he opened an encouraging smile, his eyes weren't smiling thought. They were full of tear "So we need to finish this quick and go back to Hana-chan. Then we will beg for his forgiveness."_

"_And live happily ever after?" she was crying now, but even so she managed to laugh. She was very vulnerable at that moment. "Like in those stupid Fairy Tales you use to tell me and Hana when I was pregnant?"_

"_Yes." Yoh said, while kissing her forehead "But our Fairy Tale will not end there. Our Happy Ending will be the begging of a happy life which shall never end."_

"_You sound so stupid saying that." She wiped her tears "Enough rest. Let's go after that Asakura psycho maniac spoiled princess Hao."_

"_Yes." He stood up and then helped her. Now more than ever Yoh wanted to end this war._

_They continued to walk in the busy streets of Kyoto. At the moment they were holding hands, as if they could share the courage with each other. Both were determinate to win this war in the next battle. _

_Unfortunately their body strength wasn't as strong as their will power. Both were injured from the last battle. Not as bad as before, but they still couldn't go very far without stopping many times and resting. Yoh was injured in his right leg and left shoulder. He almost had his right arm cut off which made it harder to move it. They were still unsure if he had some broken ribs or not. Anna had one of her arms broken, several cuts and her left leg was with a deep cut, similar to the cut on Yoh's right arm. They also hadn't had a proper sleep since… Three years ago. And food was hard to get with the little money they had. For normal people that would be enough to be in a hospital, but they could walk as if nothing was wrong. Sure, it slowed them, they had to stop and rest every now and then, but they could still walk. If someone looked at them they couldn't tell the two were injured. The only thing that it looked unusual was that they walked very slowly._

_Anna stopped and looked across the street. A bus stop. The bus was heading to the same place as them. _

"_Yoh, how much money do we have?" she asked, looking at her husband._

"_Not enough to get us in that bus." He answered._

"_Are you…" Anna stopped and looked at the bus stop as if she had seen a… Not a ghost, but something very out of normal. "Yoh, how many guys do you know with a huge hair and a weird beard?"_

"_Only Ryu… Why?" he asked, almost laughing. He looked at Anna and saw her pointing at someone on the other side of street, at the bus station. He stopped laughing when he was the person she was pointing at. "That's…"_

"_Ryu!" called a female voice. They looked and saw what it looked like a 16 year old pink-haired girl holding her little brother. She came running towards Ryu and started talking to him. On her shoulder a little blond boy was sleeping while holding a little brown and black stuffed dog. _

"_Is that Tamao?" Anna asked, eyes wide. "Whith Ryu? What are they doing here?"_

"_I think they came for the festival, but who cares?" Yoh answered. He now had a big smile on his face. He pointed to the baby that Tamao was holding "That's…" he had tears running down his cheeks "That's Hana-chan..."_

_Both Tamao and Ryu were now with their back facing Yoh and Anna, leaving only Hana facing the two of them. He was so small. His blonde hairs covered his closed eyes. His small body rose and fell along as his small lungs were filled with air and then released. One of his arms was around Tamao's neck. His arm was so small that barely made around her neck. His other arm was hanging down while holding a little stuffed dog. It's body was brown and it's ears were black. It seemed kind old, dirty and very used. You could see that it was the kind of toy that a kid can't sleep without and carries around everywhere he goes._

"_Hana…" Anna said his name as if she could only believe if she said his name. She was going to say something else but saw the little boy opening his eyes. He yawned and them tried to reach his eye with the hand that was around Tamao's neck. After much effort he finally reach it and started scratching it. He still had a very sleepy expression and his blonde hair still covered half of his big black eyes. Hana was the cutest kid out there. _

"_Hana-chan…" she called again, her voice coming out as a mere whisper. The young boy looked at her and then smiled and waved. Both Yoh and Anna knew that he didn't know who they were, but seeing their little son waving at them made them so… so Happy._

"_Let's go." Said Tamao, entering the bus with Hana, followed by Ryu. Then it hit them. They were going away. This was their chance to talk to them and see their son and now it was going away._

"_No…" Yoh said, as he saw the bus closing it's door "NO!" he yelled and started to run towards the bus._

_The bus started moving. Tamao was sitting by the window. She was talking to Ryu while holding little Hana. Hana was the only one looking outside the window. He was the only one who was seeing Yoh and Anna running after the bus._

"_Hana!" called Yoh as he ran. He ran as fast as he could so he could keep up with the bus. He had one of his hands reaching out for his little son. Yoh couldn't let them go. Yoh couldn't let his son go._

_Hana put his head outside the window and kept looking at Yoh and Anna chasing the bus. He could hear Yoh calling for him and he could see Yoh trying to reach out. The little boy took one hand out and tried to grab his hand, but the distance between them was far too big._

"_TAMAO! STOP THE BUS!" Anna yelled. She was right behind Yoh, running towards her son. She kept tripping every now and then but never gave up. _

_They both saw as Hana tried to talk to Tamao. The boy looked at them and then back to Tamao. But the woman would just ignore little Hana. Yoh and Anna kept running while hitting the side of the bus, trying to make someone stop it so they could talk to Hana. _

_Unfortunately the injury worked against them. Yoh's right leg was weak and he ended up falling, making Anna, who was running right behind him, stop so she wouldn't trip. Yoh tried to get up again, but the injury in his leg had opened again._

"_Not now…" Yoh said. Yes, that was the perfect moment for his leg star bleeding. In the moment he needed to run, he couldn't. Then he looked at Anna, who didn't know what to do. She wanted to help Yoh, but she also wanted to go running and stop the bus. As a result she ended up doing neither. "Go Anna! I'll be fine!"_

_Listening to him she started running towards the bus. She could still see her son with the hand reaching out to her. But she also had an injury on her leg. That made her go slow, but the bus would only go faster. _

_Then something happen that surprised them both. Hana took out his little dog and threw at the street, while looking at Anna. Anna stopped running and looked shocked at her son, who was now waving good bye. She started crying and fell on her knees. She brought her hands to her face and started crying. And to think Asakura Anna never cried._

_Yoh seeing Hana's act started to run, even if slow, towards the toy. Just by the way Hana was holding that little dog Yoh could tell it was a very special. He passed by Anna and reached the little, dirty stuffed animal. _

_He picked up the dog and held it close. Then he walked back to Anna and helped her up. _

"_That's his little doggie…" Anna said._

"_He gave it to us." Yoh answered, giving the dog to Anna._

_She held the dog close to her and started to cry. It smelled like him. _

"_This is the closest we can be to him." Anna said, looking at Yoh._

"_Let's finish this off soon, so we can return it him."_

Now, three years later they were both sitting down in the living room of Enn Inn. Tamao was in front of them, serving tea. She was wearing a black dress and her hair had grew. There was a silence in the living room. They were waiting for Hana to return.

Yoh and Anna were sitting in front of Tamao, both nervous. Anna was holding the little stuffed dog that her son gave to them three years before. It was their companion. They took care of that dog with their lives. And after going through three years worth of battle with them it was even dirtier than before. Yoh tried his best to clean the dog before returning it to his son, and Anna had spent many sleepless night needling the dog and trying to stuff it again.

"Tadaima…" A voice coming from the door. Yoh and Anna turned around to see their little son entering the room. He was taller than before, and his hair still covered half of his huge black eyes. He had a small nose and was wearing a black jumper shorts and had the futsu no mitama in his right hand. He had a bandage in his right cheek, right elbow and his left knee.

When he saw the two strangers his expression was a mixture of confuse and curiosity. He tilted his had slightly to the left and blinked twice when no action or word came from the three other people in the living room.

Anna looked at Yoh and, with a smile, she stood up, followed by Yoh. They both walked to the little boy and then got down to his level. Anna looked once again to Yoh before showing the brown dog with black ears to the blonde shaman.

Hana looked at the dog surprised for a few seconds before grabbing it gently from Anna's hand and hugging close, with a huge smile on his face.

**Owari.**

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**Well… That's it. My first original fanfic in English is finished. Hope you all liked it. Please, send reviews!**


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